Report tallies gun toll on Connecticut kids

HARTFORD -- A new report released Thursday by the state's Office of the Child Advocate says 924 children were injured by guns in the last 12 years and 94 died as a result.

The report showed that the highest incidence of gun-related deaths among children involved boys 12 to 17 years old, most were homicides and almost half were in Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport. The report was compiled using child fatality data from Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and child injury data from the Connecticut Hospital Association.

The report is being released to inform policy makers seeking to prevent these deaths in the future, said Jamey Bell, the state's child advocate.

"Policy changes to prevent deaths and injuries of children by guns will need to address the different contexts and contributing factors," Bell said in a prepared statement.

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Of the 924 children who suffered gun-related injuries during the study period, 88.3 percent were boys, with 94 percent of the injured being 12 to 17 years old. Six out 10 gun-related injuries in the study occurred to black children, with a similar ration of the shooting incidents taking place in Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport.

The Office of the Child Advocate is making four recommendations to lawmakers and government officials:

--Policy makers and residents should support state level and national level research to understand the root causes of gun violence and how to prevent it.

--Policy makers should strengthen the assault weapons ban, and otherwise control access to guns by increasing requirements for background checks, registration, storage and safety, and permits/licenses to carry as well as by regulating gun shows and by prohibiting sales of guns and ammunition to state residents via the Internet.

--Policy makers should work within local communities in multidisciplinary efforts involving law enforcement, mental health, social services, child welfare, education, judicial, and public health, to both support these communities as they heal from such tragedies, and understand and implement ways to prevent future episodes of gun violence.

--Policy makers should establish a long-term working group charged with evaluating the state's community-based capacity to respond to traumatic events and assist local communities in the development of trauma prevention and response strategies.

Rich Burgess, president of Connecticut Carry, a gun-owners rights group, said he finds it "hard to even consider the credibility of this study."

"I think the untimely death of anyone, especially children, is tragic," Burgess said. "I am not sure why this study only focused on 'gun deaths' and 'gun injuries'. It seems any kind of credible or reasonable study would give some kind of comparison to other types of deaths and injuries among children."